World Cup Update: Jazz Players Still in the Mix as Bracket Phase Gets Underway

September 5th, 2023 | by Steve Godfrey

Olynyk and his Canadian peers are set for the World Cup quarterfinals. (Achmad Ibrahim via sltrib.com)

It might officially be football season as the 2023 season kicked off over the weekend in Utah, but basketball fans still have some global games to watch, as the field for the quarterfinals of FIBA Basketball World Cup tournament is set. Some Jazz players involved in the tournament are still vying for gold, while others finished up their World Cup experience among tournament scoring leaders.

As a quick note, shame to you and your mother if you haven’t been following Dan Clayton or regularly visiting his FIBA tracker for the five Utah Jazz players. 

Win or go home: Quarterfinal play begins Tuesday

The FIBA bracket going into the quarterfinals.

The quarterfinals were set going into Labor day: Lithuania will play Serbia, Germany will play Latvia, Canada will face Slovenia, and team USA will be paired with Italy. These games will take place Tuesday and Wednesday before the semifinals tip off on Friday. By this time next week, the World Cup champion will be crowned as the final game will be held Sunday, September 10. From now out, it’s win or go home — or at least win or be consigned to the classification games.

Surprisingly, the two favorites, Canada and the USA, each lost a single game each en route to their quarterfinals. Because of losses by the Dominican Republic, Brazil, and Puerto Rico, the USA clinched a berth in the Paris Olympics regardless of the loss, according to ESPN.  Additionally, the loss didn’t affect their seeding for the World Cup Championships. That said,  it was a wake-up call for the Americans to lose to Lithuania after being dominant in group play and exhibition since the beginning of August. Similarly, Canada still held the top spot in their group despite a second-round loss to Brazil.

Lithuania and the Big Bodies: Walker Kessler’s Role

Lithuania used their big bodies to take a 110-104 victory on Sunday. Jonas Valanciunas, who will suit up for the New Orleans Pelicans this upcoming NBA season, and former NBA rotation player Donantas Motiejunas dominated the paint against USA’s smaller interior roster. The two combined for 21 points and 10 rebounds as coach Steve Kerr couldn’t find the body to bottle them up. Additionally, Lithuania started three players who were 6-foot-9 and taller and had even more size coming off the bench. Collectively, they outrebounded the USA 43-27. 

For USA, Jaren Jackson Jr. was great with 16 points himself, but he was in foul trouble for most of the game and then fouled out in the fourth quarter. Team USA won his minutes by 16, but wasn’t able to control the paint on defense or secure a rebound (ESPN points out he got his first in the third quarter) as he constantly battled size all around him. 

Utah Jazz rising star Walker Kessler was included on the roster for these types of matchups, to allow USA to go big versus big when situations called for it. Yet he couldn’t make an impact on the game, playing just six minutes and finishing with two points and a rebound. He, too, struggled with fouls, notching two, as he finished with a +/- of -10 during his short stint. 

Taking an optimistic approach, Kerr commented, “For us to get better, we needed to feel this, we needed to respond the way we did.” Now that the medal round has begun, Team USA must fine-tune a few key errors to ensure their necks hang gold. They won’t run into Lithuania again on the podium, as Valanciunas and company lost early Tuesday morning. But still, Lithuania provided the rest of the world a template, and Kessler and other bigs should watch film to be ready for a challenge, especially on the glass. 

Bracketology: Other Jazz Stars Leave a Mark

For the first round, USA was paired with Italy, which has been led by Jazz forward Simone Fontecchio.

As the team’s only NBA player, Fontecchio has been the team’s best scorer, and arguably their best player, too. He scored 30 points against Serbia on Friday to help get his squad into the tournament play. Most telling was how smooth he was in getting that 30 as he went 11-for-15 from the floor and showed off a complete offensive résumé, whether that’s tough shots in the halfcourt or making plays while in transition. Overall, Fontecchio came out of group play averaging a team-high 18.6 points per game on 61% shooting from the field in 30 minutes a game. 

Playing summer ball has been important for Fontecchio as he is still hoping to translate his international game to the NBA level. His NBA tenure has been spotty with spurts here and there, but he is in the mix as the Jazz look to round out the roster and create depth charts. These games and experiences hope to give him confidence and experience as he vies for minutes at the small forward position, hoping to be the main backup in that spot.

Italy, though, fell short against USA on Tuesday morning. Fontecchio once again led the way with 18, but the Americans ran away with this one, 100-63. Italy will now play a pair of classification games on Thursday and Saturday, which will help determine their overall ranking heading into Olympic qualifying tournaments.

Jazz center Kelly Olynyk will also play in the tournament this week, lining up for Canada. The Canadian team is full of NBA talent, with Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leading the charge. Olynyk has nestled into a nice role and become one of their most efficient players. He is in the top three Canadians for points (third with 12 a game), rebounds (second with five a game), and assists (nearly three a game). There is a really good chance he’ll be playing next Sunday in the championship game — but first they’ll have to deal with Luka Doncic and Slovenia on Wednesday, then Serbia on Friday.

ICYMI: Jordan Clarkson is still a flamethrower

While the host country did not advance into tournament play, Jordan Clarkson still gave his home country’s crowds plenty to cheer about as he lit it up for the Philippines. Behind only Luka Doncic of Slovenia, Clarkson averaged the second most points per game in the five games at 26 a game on 41% from the field, 80% from the foul line, and 30% from deep.

In his grand finale, Clarkson lit up for 34 points as the Philippines defeated China 96-75 in the consolation bracket. As his nickname suggests, Clarkson went flamethrower mode to nail 20 points in four minutes to end the first half on fire. 

Much like the man himself, it was beautiful. 

After Doncic and Clarkson, it is another Jazzman who rounds out the top three in World Cup scoring: Lauri Markkanen averaged 24.8 per game across five contests for Finland, but like the Philippines, Finland failed to make the bracket phase. They lost all three games in the first round, but then won a pair of games in the classification bracket. Markkanen had 34 and 32 in those two games.

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